Field of Innocence
by Magdalan-Saiyan-Toa
Summary: Where has my heart gone, an uneven trade for the real world. Oh I... I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all...


****

Don't know where the idea came from, but it sounded cute in my head. It took me three days to write. This oneshot was inspired by Evanescence's "Field of Innocence."

Field of Innocence

He was leaning coolly against the cement pillar at the mall, waiting for his friends to finish whatever business they had at the Spencer's®. He noted, irritably, that the little girl off to his right was watching him curiously.

Every so often he would glance over at her with a cool gaze. He would she was still staring back at him with those large green eyes.

For several minutes more, he ignored the inquisitive little girl, until finally, he had had enough.

"This isn't a zoo." he said flatly. She blinked up at him.

"Huh?" came her sweet voice, asking what he meant.

"Don't stare, this isn't a zoo. I'm not some animal that you can gawk at." He looked down at her and sighed. She didn't understand what the hell he was talking about. "Stop staring, it's impolite."

"Oh..."

Still, she stared.

"Is there something you want?" he asked her, slightly annoyed by her continued presence. He was used to the idiocy and the innocence (Lewa being the main reason) but wasn't she bored staring at a complete stranger?

"I los'." she said, finger hooked onto her lower lip and jaw. He bet she had sharp nails that were cutting into her skin.

"And you want me to help you find your legal guardian."

"Uh-huh!"

"Look, kid—"

"Liddy. My name Liddy."

"Liddy. Look, I don't help people. I'm a loner. You're better off finding someone who will help you."

"What's yer name? I told you my name, now you have to tell me yer's."

He hesitated before saying, "Kopaka."

Liddy smiled and giggled.

"'Paka." she said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Ri-i-ight. Now, where would your mom be." he said more to himself than her, pushing off the cement pillar with his shoulder blades, arms dropping.

"Dunno."

Kopaka sighed, rubbing his temples. He looked down, feeling a tug at his hand. Liddy had looped her small hand in his large hand.

"Come on then, best we find her."

Liddy pulled him along, shuffling as she scuttled along the tiled floor of the mall.

"Mommy and I were chopping an' I lost sight of her 'cuz I let go of her han' an' dunno where she went. We were getting a present fer daddy. Mommy wants t'make up to daddy. They had a fight last week an' aren't talking to 'n'other. Mommy cry 'lot when daddy mad at her."

Kopaka frowned. The little girl was caught in a marriage of two people who were too young when they pledged to one another in the first place. Maybe it would be better if he took her home and took care of her...

No. What was he thinking? He was still in high school! He wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of caring for a child. He could barely handle Lewa as it was.

He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. She was holding her stomach and looked like she was about to cry. Now that he thought about it, he was thirsty. Maybe food would keep her occupied while they waited for her mother at the Information Desk.

"Liddy," he asked, "are you hungry?"

"Uh-huh!" she answered enthusiastically. "I want pretzel!"

Kopaka looked around and spotted the only place that sold pretzels— Auntie Anne's Pretzels™. A smiled tugged at his lips. Perfect.

They were lucky, as there was a short line.

"Hello, what can I do you for?" the cashier asked him.

"One original and one medium lemonade."

She quickly typed the order into the cash register and smiled.

"Your total," the cashier said, "comes to 7.53."

Kopaka pulled out two fives and handed them to her.

"Out of five." Again, she typed quickly. "Your change is 2.47."

The cash register opened with a "ding" and the cashier's nimble fingers drew out to crisp ones, a quarter, two dimes and two pennies.

Seconds later, their order came to them.

The cashier handed them the pretzel and the lemonade.

"She's cute." the cashier said. "The little girl. She your sister?"

"No." Kopaka said blandly, sipping the lemonade. It was tart and refreshing, just what he needed. "She got lost and asked me for help— though I don't know _why_— and she's hungry."

"You know, not many guys are willing to help such an angel, especially the cute ones."

Kopaka felt heat rise to his cheeks. It was moments like these he wished he had Tahu's red hair that could obscure a blush almost instantly.

"Thank you fer the pretzel, Miss. Purdy Lady!" Liddy said, holding up the bitten soft pretzel. "It yummy!"

"You're welcome, cutie!" the cashier said. "Have a great day!"

"Whatever." Kopaka mumbled, sipping the lemonade once again as they walked away.

Liddy subconsciously slipped her hand into Kopaka's, chewing gratefully on the pretzel.

The Information Desk wasn't too far away from the Auntie Anne's Pretzels™ stand, much to Kopaka's relief. He noted, much to his chagrin, the noisy ball pit was next to it.

The woman at the desk looked up at them, more so Kopaka than Liddy, as they approached.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked, blinking her brown doe eyes.

Kopaka hoisted Liddy (who was finishing off her pretzel) up so the woman could see her.

"She's lost—" Kopaka began but was cut off by a frantic teenager.

"I lost my daughter!" the teenager said.

"Mommy!" Liddy cried.

"Oh thank heavens!" Liddy's mother said, yanking her from a stunned Kopaka.

"See, told you Liddy would be her." a girl, presumably one of Liddy's mother's friends, said. And then to another girl next to her, held out her hand palm up, saying "Pay up, Suze."

"Damnit all!" the other girl, Suze, cursed, digging in her pockets for money.

"I can't thank you enough for finding Liddy." the girl's mother said.

Kopaka was shocked in two ways. 1.) Being that Liddy's mother had shown up at the Information Desk almost at the same time they did. And 2.) That she was a teenager, no older than himself.

"Wow... that was fast." the woman at the Information Desk murmured.

"Liddy, why don't you go play in the ball pit, sweetie." Liddy's mother said, setting her daughter on the ground. She walked over and leaned on the foam and plastic covered wall that surrounded the ball pit.

Kopaka was about to leave, when her friends pushed her towards Liddy's mother.

"She wants to talk to you." the one who had made a bet with Suze said.

Kopaka looked over his shoulder at them nervously before walking over and leaning on the wall.

"I can't thank you enough for finding Liddy." she sighed. "She's always wandering off and finding some stranger to buy her food when she's bored or hungry. It always seems to work, too. What'd you buy her?"

"A pretzel." Kopaka answered, watching as Liddy made friends with some kid she had run into and gotten into an argument with after she had slid down the slide and into him.

"Pretzel? That's a new one."

The two were silent for a moment.

"The name's Angel, by the way, and I didn't name Liddy, her father did."

"Kopaka. Um, about that—"

"Yeah, I'm in high school. Yeah, I'm a senior. Yeah, I'm eighteen. Yeah, Liddy's five. And yeah, it was stupid. Liddy was a stupid mistake... but I love her. God! I'd give anything to be that innocent again."

"Huh?"

"Kids can make friends so easily. Why can't parents? Is it because we're not innocent? Is it because we don't understand? God damn, I'd love to be a kid again."

"But, you are a kid. You're your mother's kid, it's just now you have one of your own to take care of."

"I'd love to see what's in that little brain of your's, Kopaka— That's your name, Kopaka, right? Good, I know this may sound weird, but let me pay for what Liddy forced you to buy."

"It's not weird, and no thanks. Liddy never forced me to buy her that pretzel, I bought it for her on my own free will."

"Why can't there be more guys like you in the world?"

"Because, those that are, are too young to understand. And those that are, well, we tend to stay at home unless we get dragged out by our moronic friends. Speaking of which, I'd better go find them, I'm their ride home. See you, Angel. Tell Liddy it's not polite to stare at strangers for me, will you?"

"But—"

"Hot damn, girl!" Suze said once Kopaka was gone. "He was _fine_!"

"Too bad I'm engaged to an idiot." Angel sighed. "Besides, he's too young for me."

"How do you know that?"

"He goes to our school. He's a sophomore."

"Damn."

* * *

"Where were you, K-man?" Lewa asked.

"Helping someone." Kopaka said, fixing his white, leather trench coat.

"Wait, wait, wait." Pohatu said. "Who would _want_ your help?"

"A mother and her daughter."

"Ah, what were they looking for?"

"Innocence."

"Inno... That's not an answer, Kopaka!"

Silently, with his back to his friends, he chuckled.

What he wouldn't do to be innocent again.

****

"Where has my heart gone  
An uneven trade for the real world  
Oh I... I want to go back to  
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all..."  
—Evanescence, "Field of Innocence."

****

I love Liddy. She's so cute. Maybe I'll write another oneshot with her in it.

I was looking up some info on the Cheshire Cat and found out in the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Cat was a British Shorthair. I had always loved British Shorthairs. Don't know why, but I just have.


End file.
